Neptune's Inferno

The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

By: JAMES D. HORNFISCHER

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Paperback | 15 March 2012 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
544 Pages

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23.5 x 15 x 3.5

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Written with the storytelling drive that made Jim Hornfischer's first two books award winners and word-of-mouth favourites, here is an indispensable work of narrative history by one of the most commanding chroniclers of the U.S. Navy in World War II. The fight between the U.S. and Japanese fleets for control of the seas around Guadalcanal was the most ferocious and important naval campaign of the Pacific war. In this, the first major account of this landmark struggle in two decades, Hornfischer narrates an epic tale, breathtaking in its spectacle, of naval combat unprecedented in its intensity. Off Guadalcanal, in seas that would become known as Iron Bottom Sound for the number of warships sunk in action there, three U.S. sailors would die for every marine who perished ashore. Based on three years of research, including interviews with veterans who have never spoken publicly before, essential new archival sources, and the latest scholarship, Hornfischer gives vivid life to the story of a nearly forgotten sacrifice, written on a canvas that is at once epic and deeply, poignantly human.

About the Author

James D Hornfischer is a writer, literary agent and former book editor. He is the author of The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and Ship of Ghosts, both widely acclaimed accounts of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II.

Industry Reviews

"A literary tour de force that is destined to become one of the . . . definitive works about the battle for Guadalcanal . . . [James D.] Hornfischer deftly captures the essence of the most pivotal naval campaign of the Pacific war."--San Antonio Express-News

"Vivid and engaging . . . extremely readable, comprehensive and thoroughly researched."--Ronald Spector, The Wall Street Journal

"Superlative storytelling . . . the masterwork on the long-neglected topic of World War II's surface ship combat."--Richard B. Frank, HistoryNet

"The author's two previous World War II books . . . thrust him into the major leagues of American military history writers. Neptune's Inferno is solid proof he deserves to be there."--The Dallas Morning News

"The star of this year's reading list is James D. Hornfischer, a military historian whose flair for narrative is rivaled only by his ability to organize the sweep of battle and assess strategy and tactics in layman's terms."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Outstanding . . . The author's narrative gifts and excellent choice of detail give an almost Homeric quality to the men who met on the sea in steel titans."--Booklist (starred review)

"Brilliant . . . a compelling narrative of naval combat . . . simply superb."--The Washington Times

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Maps	p. xii
Tables	p. xiii
Prologue: Eighty-two Ships	p. xvii
Sea of Troubles
Trip Wire	p. 3
A Great Gray Fleet	p. 16
The First D-Day	p. 27
Nothing Worthy of Your Majesty's Attention	p. 44
Fly the Carriers	p. 50
A Captain in the Fog	p. 56
The Martyring of Task Group 62.6	p. 62.
Burning in the Rain	p. 80
Fighting Fleet Rising
A New Kind of Fight	p. 95
The Tokyo Express	p. 209
A Function at the Junction	p. 114
What They Were Built For	p. 123
The Warriors	p. 135
The Devil May Care	p. 145
The Visit	p. 150
Night of a New Moon	p. 157
Pulling the Trigger	p. 169
"Pour It to'Em"	p. 179
Storm Tide
All Hell's Eve	p. 191
The Weight of a War	p. 200
Enter Fighting	p. 208
"StrikeùRepeat, Strike"	p. 216
Santa Cruz	p. 223
Secret History	p. 237
Turner's Choice	p. 243
Suicide	p. 253
Black Friday	p. 263
Into the Light	p. 273
The Killing Salvo	p. 282
Death in the Machine Age	p. 290
Point Blank	p. 299
Among the Shadows	p. 311
Atlanta Burning	p. 317
Cruiser in the Sky	p. 326
Regardless of Losses	p. 335
The Thundering
The Giants Ride	p. 345
The Gun Club	p. 353
The Kind of Men Who Win a War	p. 369
On the Spot	p. 378
The Futility of Learning	p. 385
Future Rising	p. 398
Report and Echo	p. 409
The Opinion of Convening Authority	p. 416
Ironbottom Sound	p. 423
Acknowledgments	p. 431
Ships and Aircraft Types of the Guadalcanal Campaign	p. 433
Naval Battles of the Guadalcanal Campaign	p. 435
Total Naval Losses at Guadalcanal	p. 437
Source Notes	p. 439
Bibliography	p. 465
Index	p. 491
Photo Credits	p. 513
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Neptune's Inferno

The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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